Iran unveils statistics of citizens married to foreigners

Iran's National Organization for Civil Registration (NOCR) has unveiled the statistics of the Iranian citizens who married to foreigners last year.

Ali Akbar Mahzoun, Director of the Office of Statistics and Population at the NOCR said that 749 Iranian women married to foreigners last year, Iran's Mehr news reported on June 21.

The figure is about 0.1 percent of total registered marriages in the country during the period, he added.

Mahzoun went on to say that Tehran tops the list with 164, followed by Khuzestan Province with 69, Razavi Khorasan Province with 66, Qom Province with 61 and Western Azerbaijan Province with 51 women married with foreigners.

Some 170 women from the list are aged between 30 and 34, and the age of 150 women ranges between 25 and 29, he added

The official also said that 660 Iranian men married with foreign women last year, with 108 of these marriages being registered in Razavi Khorasan Province, followed by 87 in Khuzestan, 73 in Tehran, 42 in Ilam and 41 in Golestan Provinces.

About 200 men who married with foreign citizens are 25-29 years old, while 157 men are at the age of 20 to 24 years old.

Commenting on the citizenship of the Iranian women's children born from a foreigner father, Mahzoun said they are deprived of citizenship, including education and health services, adding that according to Iran's laws the children born in Iran from a foreigner father and an Iranian mother can apply for citizenship only when they reach 18.

Iran, like many other countries in the Middle East, has traditionally based nationality on paternity alone and has been reluctant to grant citizenship to people seen as outsiders.